InterWorld (Hardcover)

by Neil Gaiman (Author), Michael Reaves (Collaborator)
Key Phrases: encounter suit, rendering room, tattooed man, Lady Indigo, Old Man, Base Town (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist
A lad discovers that he can walk between alternate Earths—and is swept up in a war between them in this fast-paced, compulsively readable tale. Joey gets lost in his own house, but when he steps into a patch of fog and finds himself in a world where he died, a trillion Earths lie open to him—arranged in a vast arc, with an empire of science-based planes at one end and a realm where magic rules at the other. Recruited into an army of anything-but-identical Joeys gathered from many of these worlds and charged with maintaining the balance of power, Joey picks up companions both human and non as he travels the multidimensional In Between that links the sprawling "Altiverse." In this first of what could and should be many episodes, Joey finishes his basic training by doing battle with melodramatically evil magic workers Lord Dogknife and Lady Indigo. Vivid, well-imagined settings and characters compensate for weak links in the internal logic of this rousing sf/fantasy hybrid. Peters, John

Product Description

Joey Harker isn't a hero.

In fact, he's the kind of guy who gets lost in his own house.

But then one day, Joey gets really lost. He walks straight out of his world and into another dimension.

Joey's walk between the worlds makes him prey to two terrible forces—armies of magic and science who will do anything to harness his power to travel between dimensions.

When he sees the evil those forces are capable of, Joey makes the only possible choice: to join an army of his own, an army of versions of himself from different dimensions who all share his amazing power and who are all determined to fight to save the worlds.

Master storyteller Neil Gaiman and Emmy Award-winning science-fiction writer Michael Reaves team up to create a dazzling tale of magic, science, honor, and the destiny of one very special boy—and all the others like him.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 9-12
  
• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: HarperCollins; First Edition edition (June 26, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0061238961
• ISBN-13: 978-0061238963
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #224,095 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

28 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Joey to the Infinite Power!, August 14, 2007

By	Shanshad "shanachie_shadowfax" (Discworld) - See all my reviews

Neil Gaiman is well known for his fantasy novels and graphic novels and lately has gained quite a bit of status, especially since Stardust is due to hit theaters soon. According to the Afterword, this part SF, part Fantasy story was written by Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves years ago and then shelved away out of lack of interest. What so often happens when authors gain fame and attention happened in this case, a story that generated no interest before and couldn't find a publisher is dusted off and given life on the bookstore shelf.

Joey Harker is nothing special, or so he thinks. If anything his ability to get lost in his own house is downright embarrassing. But then one day he manages take a wrong turn and winds up in another dimension. The ability to walk through worlds is a special one, and there are forces that intend to use Joey for their own ends. The only safety for Joey is an army . . . of himself. But saving the universe is a tough business and it's not so easy for one boy to turn into a hero overnight. Before he comes into his own, Joey has a lot of growing up to do. It's a fascinating idea: an army crafted between dimensions out of self preservation. It's also a really quick read. At only 233 pages, the story has to keep moving pretty quickly in order to wrap up before the book cover closes. This tale has much in common with superhero storylines and feels almost comic-book like in nature, despite the text storyline. This isn't too surprising given that Gaiman is well known for his Sandman graphic novels and Reaves is an award-winning television writer who worked on Batman: The Animated Series and Gargoyles.

Overall, I'd say the book isn't bad--particularly for something that was dusted off from storage. But while the world building is fascinating, the plotting tends to be way too simplistic and clichéd. Even the target audience for this novel (9-12 year-olds) is going to be familiar with some of these plot elements: Joey's friendship with a "dangerous" creature from in-between that becomes a sort of pet and sidekick, the crochety, never-a-nice-word to anybody leader, and the reluctant hero heading out to rescue his friends in a do or die situation after he's been kicked to the curb. So, if someone's looking for originality in the storyline, they may be a bit disappointed. Still, the story isn't dead in the water, and there's some fascinating glimpses and ideas to be had, but it could have been much stronger--both writers are capable of better plotting. Likewise, there isn't much time for characterization in the brief adventure tale and most of the cast gets the short end of a stick on description. We get glimpses, but no time to really get to know most of them. My biggest complaint is that things go at a comfortable pace in the beginning--introducing Joey and his teacher and his first World Walk. Then everything starts to run a bit too quickly once we get to the Interworld base. Joey goes from being rescued to being a recruit at a very sudden pace and the entire part of the story that takes place at the Interworld school feels glossed over. It would have been interesting to spend more time on that part and expand the growth of Joey from clueless victim who gets others killed to heroic teammate who saves the day.

While there are deaths in this book and some gruesome threats to the protagonists, there isn't as much actual grisly death in the story and it does have a happy ending for the most part. The story will probably work best for young teens and mature preteens who enjoy the kind of blended SF and Fantasy that is found in superhero comics. It's a quick read and therefore may appeal to those who dislike longer works or endless series. For older teens and readers who have cut their eyeteeth on Gaiman's longer fiction, this may be a bit of a disappointment and it might be one to borrow from the library before buying to see if it's worth it. For those who enjoy this and want to find more Neil Gaiman books to read, check out Neverwhere and Stardust. And for other adventures in SF and Fantasy, check out Gregor the Overlander by Suzanne Collins and Mister Monday by Garth Nix.

Happy Reading! ^_^ Shanshad

33 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not Like Gaiman at All, August 31, 2007

By	Matthew Kruer (Phoenix, AZ USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

First, a caveat: I am 26 years old and therefore am clearly not within the 9-12 demographic for which this book is intended. Perhaps it is unfair to ask that young adult novels stand up to the scrutiny of adult readers. However, Gaiman is a first-rate talent and I think that it is fair to expect his writing to stand up to such age-independent works as the later Harry Potter novels, Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy, or Mieville's Un Lun Dun.

InterWorld has an amazing premise: Joey Harker, a completely unremarkable teenager, gets caught up in a conflict that spans the infinite worlds of the multiverse in an epic conflict between magic and science. Even if I hadn't been a Gaiman fan, I would have picked up this novel based simply on the brilliance of the set up.

Unfortunately, InterWorld consistently fails to deliver. Joey lacks any compelling characteristics of a great protagonist; he seems, in fact, to be a rather dull and unintelligent teenager. This is true even after his transformation from a normal kid into a major player in this epic conflict; he never moves beyond one-dimension. Especially disappointing is the missed opportunity of interesting interaction between many alternate versions of the same character. Despite the (literally) infinite potential of the multiverse, neither the magical HEX nor the technological Binary, nor anything in between, is fleshed out enough to be really interesting. This is especially true of the Binary side, which gets shafted in favor of a climax devoted entirely to the HEX side of the equation.

Perhaps most disappointing, the quality of the writing is decidedly inferior. Anyone familiar with Gaiman can vouch for the magical quality of his prose. Stardust, for example, is written in language that any literate 9-12 year old would understand and appreciate, yet positively sings with lyrical elegance. In comparison, InterWorld feels plodding and clumsy. Even with the device of the first person narrator, which provides plenty of opportunity for a conversational style in the mode of a modern teenage boy, the result is inappropriately formal, or else clunky in that no teenager actually speaks in such a way. Simply put: InterWorld doesn't feel like Gaiman at all. It is much more in the mode of Reaves' Star Wars novels.

To be fair, InterWorld is a fast-paced story based on a brilliant premise that bridges the science-fiction/fantasy gap. It is an easy read, and it is enjoyable enough for what it is. However, given that this story spent the last decade on the backburner while Gaiman and Reaves worked on other projects, I can't help but think that they should have left it there.

28 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Neil Gaiman And Michael Reaves Offer Up An Alternate World Spin, June 27, 2007

By	Mel Odom (Moore, OK USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves are both award winning writers. They also both rose to prominence outside the novel arena. Gaiman scripted the SANDMAN comic series that lasted 75 issues plus specials. Since that time he's gone on to script many other things, including novels, television shows, short stories, movie scripts, and continued working in the comics arena. His work for Marvel Comics to create the 1602 universe when heroes similar to the present-day Spiderman, Daredevil, Fantastic Four, etc rose at 300 years ago has rightfully garnered a lot of attention. He also helped flesh out the mythos of the comics industry's best-selling title, SPAWN.



Michael Reaves has written many television cartoon scripts, including BATMAN THE ANIMATED SERIES, GHOSTBUSTERS, and others. He's also written short stories and novels.



According to the notes in the latest book they have out together, INTERWORLD, they got the idea for the book about ten years ago. Reaves joined Gaiman at his house and they sat down and wrote the book together. The idea had originally started out as a pitch for the television people. Since they had trouble explaining the concept to television executives, they came up with the idea of writing a short novel about it. Even after the novels written, television wasn't prepared to make a series.



Last year, the manuscript was given fresh life when it was shown around to some prospective publishers. Almost immediately, the book was greenlit for publication.



I enjoy a lot of Neil Gaiman's work. His comics are great, his short stories haunt, and his novels are generally burst out loud laughing or truly epic. Sometimes both.



I've read some of Reaves's books, but I'm not as familiar with his work. He seems to create some interesting worlds and some interesting characters.



When I heard about INTERWORLD, the premise sounded truly exciting. Imagine a boy, Joey Harker, who could literally run into several of his alternate selves on parallel worlds. I figured immediately that the book had kind of a SLIDERS or Marvel Comics EXILES feel. I had a lot of hopes for the book.



After getting the book in the mail today, I sat down and read it. It's an easy read. The prose just sails right along. And the story is simple. In fact, it's a little too simple compared to what I was expecting. Granted that the book was written with a nine to twelve year old audience in mind, there was a lot of concentration on the architecture of the nothingness that stretched between the worlds. And not enough focus on real character development or even a plot. Both of those turn out simple as well.



I know the juvenile crowd will probably appreciate that, but this is the same market that has been reading Harry Potter books that were 1000 pages long with convoluted and heavily articulated plots.



Still, this is Gaiman and there are flashes of brilliance as well as true emotion throughout. When he talks about his teacher Dimas, he sounds so true I couldn't help but wonder if Gaiman or Reaves really had a teacher like that. The "class assignments" were terrific, and found myself wishing for more of those.



The book moves at high speed once it gets up and going, which is really very quickly. However Joey tends to be left on his own through much of the book. He always seems to be leaving people behind and not making any true and lasting friendships for a long time. In fact, the story was depressing there for awhile because everybody he met seem to die. Including himself.



Overall, I was pretty happy with the book. I wish there had been more. But it felt like an interesting cross between a Heinlein juvenile, an early Andre Norton adventure, and Roger Zelazny's Amber series. INTERWORLD is a quick read with plenty of zip and provides a host of ideas with lots of action.